Hennimore is actually messing up his boss' commands on purpose, because otherwise you would expect him to get the complicated tasks right almost half of the time.
The "Friends of..." sketches live on this trope, as they are all about reinterpreting fictional characters through the lens of being real people, specifically how terrible they would be to know. For example, Shaggy is interpreted as being a Casanova Wannabe and recovering drug addict who is extremely bitter over not being able to train his dog to talk, while Scooby's cowardice is the result of coming from an abusive owner. Conversely, Scrappy Doo is actually characterized as being a very good party guest, due to being both braver and better at speaking than his uncle is. James Bond, meanwhile, is a complete and utter sociopath.
The Numberwang sudden death round, in which whoever dies in a gas chamber first wins.
The replacement for the doorbell sketch, particularly the end.
The Quiz Broadcast runs on this, with a lot of the jokes based on how much information was lost and twisted after the Event.
The Kat-Kat and Kid-Kat segments, and the cat "burial".
A lot of the "Hennimore" sketches, but most especially the Christmas one that involves Nigerian dignitaries kneeling before a cross as Hennimore rushes in in a white sheet and sets the cross on fire, followed by the typing pool in white sheets carrying signs saying, "Go Home!".
Many of the characters in a few sketches, especially those from one-off ones, are prone to be popular with the audience. One of the more notable characters includes Cheesoid, who seems to be a very popular character despite only appearing in two sketches.
Supporting actor James Bachman is often viewed to be one, particularly in the later series of the show where at one point he became an Ascended Extra in the "Behind The Scenes" sketches.
"The Quiz Broadcast" has one sketch where the Test Card Girl was shown writing "Revelation 6 13 15" on the blackboard.
Revelation 6:13-15 reads: "and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains."
(remain indoors)
During the "Cheesoid" sketch, the chef has his copy of Perfume stolen, a book about a character with an overwhelming obsession with the sense of smell.
One of the "Didldidi" advertisements had the voiceover saying that some of the bargains were due to stock having to be sold off before changes to the Trade Descriptions Act came into force. It sounds like they're making up an excuse for Rule of Funny, but the Trade Descriptions Act really was completely overhauled around that time.
Robert Webb's character telling a supervillain to "go back to Planet Tranny" in a Captain Todger sketch looks even worse after Webb himself said he was a "gender-critical feminist" and sided with Graham Linehan in his spat with trans charity Mermaids.
The sketch "Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit", which is about a duo of superheroes with vastly different power levels and the tension this creates. Though one can say the duo's contrasting popularity was frequently played with throughout the show with both actors acknowledging this, this sketch becomes a rather apt metaphor for Mitchell (Angel Summoner) and Webb's (BMX Bandit) later careers following the show's run.
BMX Bandit: Your ability to summon a horde of celestial superbeings at will is making my BMX skills a bit...redundant.
The Orphaned Punchline about Jimmy Savile receiving three life sentences. "You think you know a guy, and then he does something like that..." Although, considering that it was allegedly an open secret at The BBC, it may simply have been a deliberate (if slightly sick) In-Joke that "got out".
The post-apocalyptic Quiz Broadcast, set in the aftermath of some vague but devastating "Event" that wiped out a significant portion of human life, and which repeatedly reminds its viewers to "REMAIN INDOORS", hits rather differently in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In the radio version, Olivia Colman plays Queen Elizabeth II in a sketch involving the Queen getting ridiculously excited over a bunch of D-grade acts being contracted to play the Royal Variety Performance. In 2017, it was announced that the role of Elizabeth II in seasons three and four of The Crown (2016) was going to be played by... Olivia Colman.
The Dead Actors sketch revolves around the two actors in question alternating the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson each night because each one wants to be the star. A few years after this sketch, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller starred in a stage production of Frankenstein in which, famously, the two actors alternated between the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature each night. Fewer glass vases were smashed over heads in Frankenstein, however.
"Are we the baddies?"note One sketch features a Nazi suddenly having a Heel Realization. The understated and humorously worded nature of the line (in the context of it being said by a Nazi) made it a popular reaction image, typically to criticize far-right political policies.
Many fans will either believe that Series 3 or 4 was when the humour wasn't quite as good as the previous two series. This could be due to the Darker and Edgier sketches, the reduction of some fan favourite sketches (such as "Numberwang" and "Sir Digby Chicken Caesar"), and how there were a lot of weak sketches in each episode (for example, the "Get Me Hennimore" sketches were one of the more unpopular ones mainly because of the predictable outcome). Likewise, Series 4 is also said to be the weakest series.
Series 2 is often commented to be a weak series in comparison with Series 1, although it does remain to be one of the better ones out of the four series.
The Woobie: A number of the characters, but possibly Cheesoid is the biggest one. Created to identify smells, it ends up just barely being able to identify cheese and petrol, frequently getting them mixed up and even mispronouncing "petrol" as "petril."
"Cheesoid kill self. Cheesoid kill self with petril. Why petril not burn?"
"No Cheesoid, that's not petrol!"
"Petril."
"PetROL! That's cheese!"
"Not petril?"
"No!"
"Hate self. Why Cheesoid exist? Cheesoid so lonely..."
YMMVs for That Mitchell and Webb Sound:
Alternate Character Interpretation: The old ladies of the Little Old Lady Job Justification Hearings. Are they Cool Old Ladies who force self-important people to take a look at their lives and start to do worthwile things, or are they passive-aggressive Bitches In Sheep's Clothing who bully people into giving up their passions and conform to their old-fashioned standards?
YMMVs for That Mitchell and Webb Situation:
Ending Fatigue: A one-episode recurring gag where Mitchell and Webb play co-workers in various professions who end every scene with a quick kiss.
has become short hand on sites for Tabletop Games for the Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards problem.